


The Butcher or the Cattle

by hunter139



Series: hunter 139's multiverse of stories [4]
Category: Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bloodshed, Predator/Prey, Takes place at Terminus, Violence, Zombies, comeuppance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 01:03:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunter139/pseuds/hunter139
Summary: While hunting on Earth, a Predator encounters the cannibals of Terminus.
Series: hunter 139's multiverse of stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1467655
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	The Butcher or the Cattle

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place before Rick's group arrives at Terminus.

It was what they had done to the children that had ignited his fury.

As he looked over the room containing the belongings of all the people they had killed, O'rika was focused on the things that clearly had belonged to children… before these monsters had finished what they had done to them.

Shaking in silent rage, O'rika made a vow to himself; none of these honourless cowards would leave their so-called sanctuary alive.

...

**1 hour ago**

The Predator leapt from tree to tree scanning the forest for worthy opponents before jumping back onto the ground. He landed amid a small horde of walking corpses who turned and looked around at where they heard the landing. They couldn't see him because his cloaking device was active, but they could smell him as they slowly shambled toward his location.

The Predator grunted in annoyance; these things were no threat to him at all, considering their bites (which infected other humans) would do nothing to his alien physiology; but they were irritating distractions to deal with.

_Where's the sport in this?_ he thought as he unsheathed his wristblades mounted on his right arm and stabbed one of the zombies in the skull. As he pulled his arm back, his strength caused the zombie's head to come with it. He looked over it, grunting in annoyance. _Such worthy game, wasted._

Not that there was much challenging prey left on Earth anymore; in the years since a human created bioweapon started causing human corpses to rise up and infect anything they came across, humanity had been reduced to a fraction of its size.

His musings were interrupted when he realized that the surrounding area was splattered with the remains of the zombie horde; he had slaughtered them with such ridiculous ease that his conscious mind had barely noticed.

Sheathing his wrist blades, the Predator leapt back up into the trees, resuming his month long hunt for a worthy challenge to his skills.

* * *

On his homeworld, this Predator had been birthed with the name O'rika, and like most of his species, he had always followed and enjoyed the thrill of an honorable hunt.

Before the zombie apocalypse, Earth was one of the favored hunting grounds of the Predator race, as humans had always made interesting and occasionally challenging prey.

O'rika remembered his first hunt on the human world, recalling the feeling of their blood splattered all over him. He recalled his first major trophy, a soldier fighting in World War II. The human had fought gallantly but had been no match for O'rika, who had honored the soldier by mounting his skull on the wall.

O'rika had come back to Earth to see if any strong warriors had survived that could be suitable prey, but so far he was disappointed. Humanity, for the most part, had become a race of scavenging survivors; stealing anything they could find from their old lives and killing others over scraps of food and ideals.

He had encountered some humans who could have been good sport, but before he had an opportunity to fight with them one on one, they were always killed, either by the zombies that remained a constant background threat, or groups of raiding humans who were cowardly and opportunistic, usually attacking their foes while their backs were turned.

O'rika had often ended up taking out his frustrations on said cowards; butchering whole groups before leaving their skinless bodies hanging from trees or the sides of buildings, before moving on to the next location.

He had been here for a month and had no trophies to show for it, but he kept up the search, knowing the shame he would receive if he came back to his clan empty-handed.

* * *

O'rika eventually came across some train tracks in the middle of the forest. Figuring it might lead him to some humans, he followed them from the trees and as the tracks led to a crossing, he noticed what appeared to be an unusual sign taped to a post.

Curious, he deactivated his cloaking and jumped down in front of the sign. "Sanctuary for all. Those who arrive survive," is what the sign said and underneath it was a map of the rail junctions with a center point circled and marked as "Terminus."

A rustling noise coming from behind him in drew his attention. Activating the plasma caster mounted on his left shoulder, he spun around letting the targeting system do its work, but found only a lone zombie shambling towards him from out of the forest. His concern alleviated he deactivated the plasma caster and turned back to the sign.

Keying the wrist computer mounted on his left arm, O'rika called up a holographic map of the area. Studying the map, he saw that this Terminus was only a few miles away, briefly scanning the holo to see what else was nearby and found that a city was about 20 miles away.

He decided to take a look at Terminus, figuring that if it was destroyed or overrun, he would look to the city to find worthy game.

Without looking, the Predator backhanded the zombie that was looking to bite into his arm, the force of the blow shattering the corpse's skull, and then he deactivated the holomap and started making his way to Terminus.

* * *

Less than an hour later, O'rika found himself in a tree, overlooking a complex of buildings encircled by a wire fence to keep out zombies.

Having reactivated his cloaking device, O'rika now used the image enhancer built into his mask to scan what was likely a station for trains. Thermal vision showed a dozen humans in a courtyard located in the center of the complex, and as he watched, a pair of humans emerged from the opposite side of the path O'rika, had taken to get here.

These newcomers were most likely seeking the sanctuary these people had offered and as they entered into the gate, O'rika leapt from his vantage point and quickly ran toward the fence, leaping over it in a single jump, and then quickly climbing onto the roof of what used to be a warehouse.

With his cloak up, no one noticed and he continued his observations unseen.

As the newcomers arrived, they were greeted by guns from the people of Terminus. As the new arrivals started saying that they had been told that Terminus would be a safe place, two men came behind them with blunt instruments and knocked them unconscious.

As they were dragged away, one of the Terminus residents walked over to someone who appeared to be the leader of the group and started voicing concerns and questions he had,

_A newcomer, then._ O'rika thought, as the residents seemed to be very proficient at taking down any new arrivals while their backs were turned. Obviously the signs scattered all over the region were just meant to lure people into a trap.

But for what?

O'rika turned his attention and his mask's audio receptors back to the leader who was addressing the concerns of the new guy, and ended his lecture by saying,

"You're either the butcher or the cattle."

* * *

Curious, the Predator used the playback function in his mask to replay the last thing the leader had said.

"You're either the butcher or the cattle."

O'rika pondered over the implications when he looked over at the human barbecue and saw what appeared to be human fingers being served as food.

"Cannibals." He thought, mildly disgusted at the thought.

He left his vantage point at the roof and looked over the rest of the complex. Sure enough, he saw a pile of skeletons in a fenced off section in another area of the site, and then he found a window in the roof of another building where a pair of butchers were slaughtering people in packing plant.

Corpses were scattered on tables, all in various states of dismemberment, and the butchers showed a disturbing efficiency in killing people.

Of course, the Predators were always prepared and willing to kill any living being for the thrill of the hunt, and even knew how to kill dozens of species in the quickest and most efficient ways possible.

But they always gave their pray a fighting chance, they would always show respect to those worthy enough to be killed, and they would never do something like this to their own kind.

If any Predator was found resorting to cannibalism to another of their own kind, that cannibal would be killed on the spot!

* * *

The Yautja felt a twinge of anger: the residents of Terminus were likely taking good sport and good warriors and turning them into food. He was already annoyed by the sheer amount of humans who killed his prey before he had a chance to, but this was just repulsive.

He had half a mind to start killing everyone in the complex when he noticed one of the residents entering a door in yet another warehouse. This cannibal was holding the weapons that their new arrivals, and when he exited a moment later he was empty handed.

No doubt it was where the belongings of the captives were held. O'rika jumped down and opened the door, entering a room filled with weapons, clothing and other items scattered on tables and on the floor.

There were hundreds of items here, all of which likely belonged to the captives of Terminus, but what caught his eye were the basket-like chairs that were used to carry human infants.

This was the spark that ignited O'rika's fury: Predators would never hurt human children. It went completely against their honor code to even kill someone who was armed and pregnant, let alone a child who had no way of defending themselves.

But these monsters… were killing kids to use as sustenance.

The residents of Terminus were honourless, cowardly monsters, no better than the zombies they were hiding from.

O'rika knew what he had to do.

These people were corrupting the ecosystem, killing the strong so the weak may live. There was no honor in this; no way could this cannibalism be allowed to continue. O'rika made a vow to himself right there; none of the residents of Terminus would leave this place alive.

* * *

As darkness fell, O'rika started setting up his trap.

Pulling mines from his bandolier, he set the explosives to detonate if they detected any humans in their proximity and planted them at the exits of the compound, to ensure that no cannibals escaped the coming massacre.

He had spent all day observing the routines and patrols of the guards, and realized the best time to maximize his kill count would be when everyone was having dinner. He could have been killing most of the residents stealthily during the day, but he wanted his prey to know fear as they watched their friends and family die.

_He_ would be the butcher, and _they_ would be the cattle.

As the cannibals of Terminus gathered in the main courtyard for supper, O'rika made his move.

Using his speargun, he silently dispatched most of the guards who were on lookout duty for new arrivals and zombies. After that was done, he moved quickly throughout the compound, using his wrist computer to track down stragglers and killing them before they could wander into any of his mines.

_Why let them spoil the surprise?_ He thought as he ran through a female guard with his wrist blades, his hand over her mouth so no noise could escape her.

Finally when he was certain that the majority of the people who remained were gathered in the courtyard, he returned to the rooftop overlooking it. He realized that most of the people were armed.

_Good. It's more fun that way._

O'rika looked over his inventory. All his weapons were armed and loaded, his wrist computer told him that all the mines were primed and ready, and his armor was sufficient enough to withstand any stray gunfire that might hit him.

It was time to end this.

* * *

Spotting the remaining guard overlooking the courtyard with a sniper rifle, O'rika activated his plasma caster, and targeted him. The sniper had just enough time to see the 3 triangle shaped laser dots on his shirt before a plasma bolt blew a hole in his chest, knocking his corpse onto the ground.

The residents noticed this and several started pulling out guns as they tried to ascertain the location of the shooter. A young man spotted the distortion of O'rika's cloak and was rewarded for his observation when a plasma bolt blew his face in half.

The Predator moved around as the cannibals started shooting in his general direction, the few lucky rounds that hit him just bounced off his armor. He saw a group fleeing in terror down a narrow corridor and hurled his smart-disc at them in response, cutting the line of people in half from the waist up.

As the disc returned to his hand, more gunfire found him as he jumped from roof to roof, causing him to duck behind a chimney. O'rika retaliated by hurling a plasma grenade into the horde of people underneath him, which vaporized around 10 of them.

Another man was caught in a net fired from O'rika's gauntlet, which started retracting and slowly cut the guy into cube-shaped slices of flesh. At that moment he heard explosions at the exits; the people that tried to flee had wandered into his mines. That left only 5 residents remaining.

Leaping down into the foyer, O'rika deactivated his cloaking device and let off his natural Predator war cry. An old lady pulled out a machine gun and started shooting him, getting a lucky grazing shot that drew blood from his arm.

He stalked over to her and wrenched the gun from her hand, crushing it in his grip, before grabbing her by throat.

Inspecting her for a moment, he then threw her against the wall, before spinning around and killing the two residents that were sneaking up behind him with blunt objects.

_Brave, if stupid._ O'rika thought, and then someone shot an arrow at him.

He tracked the source to someone holding a crossbow, and quickly ran up to him as he tried to flee, knocked him to the ground, and then pulled his spine and skull out of his body with one hand.

The leader was the only one who remained; he unloaded an entire magazine of pistol ammo at the Predator, which just bounced off his armor as O'rika casually stalked towards him. When he ran out of bullets, he grabbed a metal pole and swung it at the Predator, who broke it in half and kicked the leader to the floor.

"What the fuck are you?!" The leader shouted.

Amused at the man's fear, O'rika activated the playback mode in his mask, which repeated the cannibal's motto back to him.

"You're either the butcher or the cattle," the mask said as O'rika drew his wrist blades.

The leader screamed in terror, before the Predator silenced him permanently.

* * *

It was some time later that O'rika decided to release the prisoners of Terminus.

After he applied first-aid to the gunshot wound he had sustained, O'rika had been busy skinning and hanging bodies, without bothering to actually remove anything to use as trophies.

He had also killed the residents who had reanimated as zombies after their deaths and then went about pondering what to do with the prisoners.

He chose to release them and leave, hurling his smart disc at the looks of the crates they were in and hiding cloaked as they exited their cells. These people deserved a chance to get their lives back together before he could decide if they would be worthy prey.

O'rika decided to let them be for now and left the railroad station, to continue his journey towards the city.

* * *

**Epilogue**

He arrived in the city a day later, and quite a few things caught his attention.

First he noticed that the streets were still covered in thousands of walking corpses, always trying to scavenge whatever meat they could find.

Secondly, despite the zombies and the fact that the city appeared to have been firebombed at some point, he could make out multiple armed groups in buildings and complexes all over the city, meaning there could be more prey to hunt.

But these details were overshadowed by what he had found in an abandoned highrise apartment. While scouting through the building to find a good vantage point, he was ambushed by a lone zombie, which he quickly put down.

As the zombie fell to the ground when he pulled his two blades out of its skull, he noticed the wound that killed the man: a fairly large gaping hole in his chest.

O'rika examined the wound and quickly deduced that zombies hadn't created the hole, and there was no trace of human bullets in the man's body. The ribcage had been torn open from the inside; a human doctor would likely be at a loss to explain the wound, but O'rika had seen it before on hunts with the rest of his species.

There was only one thing that he knew of which could cause a death like that.

_But how or why would even one of these things be here?_

At that moment, as if to confirm his suspicions, O'rika heard a familiar noise. The sound was like a cross between a screeching and a hissing, and it was echoed by several times from places within the city.

O'rika grinned (or as close as his face could get to making a human grin) behind his mask as he unsheathed his wrist blades in anticipation of the hunt.

He had found worthy prey.


End file.
